Ancient Civilizations in the 5th Grade
“I speak of the cry for myths because I believe there is an urgency in the need for myth in our day. Many of the problems of
our society, including cults and drug addiction, can be traced to
the lack of myths which will give us as individuals the inner
security we need in order to live adequately in our day.”
—Rollo May, The Cry for Myth
The Fifth Grade History Lesson by Rick Betz
Do you remember your earliest grade-school history lesson?
Perhaps your teacher began by having you look at the word
‘History”, and she broke it down for you into ‘His-story’ or ‘Herstory’. The stories that have come down to us through the ages
do indeed tell a story, the story of a civilizing humanity, our
humanity. For the fifth grader these
stories of history might more appropriately be labeled stories of
ancient cultures. For we begin with
the stories of the Mahabharata and
the Ramayana that have come to
us out of ancient India. These stories give us a picture of life in a
distant past in which gods and
mortals lived side by side, and the
veil between the worlds was transparent. A gesture analogous to this
time period might be that of arms
wide-open. This wide-openness is
Chalkboard drawing by Ilie Watterson
also a picture of the young child
who sees the world as an inseparable whole.
From ancient India we move west to ancient Persia. The fifth
grader then hears stories that include Zarathustra the Prophet
and the battles between Ahura Mazda, the god of light and
goodness, and Ahriman, the god of darkness and evil. It was a
world of polarities. Its stories depict a land of harshness, of
extreme heat and extreme cold, and yet was tamed and made
fruitful by an indomitable people. The world had developed and
through these stories we feel the human community struggle
between extremes. It is not unlike the first grader moving to
second grade, where the fairy tale gives way to fables, that
depict humanity’s lower nature, and stories of people who have
shed great love and light into the world, expressing a higher
nature that we all might strive for. The developmental picture is
that of the child who begins to see this struggle and to know
and appreciate the difference.
mesh. What an amazing story! Gilgamesh, so brash and full of
pride, challenges even the gods! And yet, he is far different
than his counterparts in either ancient Persia or India. He attempts to cross over into the other world to retrieve his best
friend, Enkidu, but is so far removed that he can’t go back
there. His home is on the Earth, in the physical world. One
could say that Gilgamesh, as a representative of his time, had
developed to a place where
his work could only be
achieved in this world and
that he has been cut off from
the world of the gods. Humanity then, you might say,
had crossed a Rubicon. The
world is no longer one. It is
divided. For the third grader
who has made the nine-year
change, who has found that
that feeling of oneness felt as recently as a year ago, is gone.
The science of brain development corroborates that by age
nine a working connection is made between what is now a divided brain of left and right hemispheres. This is an incredible
developmental leap for the child, for humanity and for civilization. This separation also is felt as aloneness. The poignancy
of this aloneness is so beautifully expressed in Gilgamesh’s
sorrow over the loss Enkidu, his dearest friend.
Now we leap to ancient Egypt, the land of pharaohs and pyramids. Civilization has leaped. There is a feeling that greatness
is possible: the Nile can be tamed. Out of the flood comes fertility, growth and the rise of a rich and complicated society. The
child begins to see that he or she is also capable of many,
many things. Yet it has not quite dawned on them that each of
them shines, that each of them is a star in their own right. They
continue to look up to and follow the orders of their Pharaoh.
They will live and die for him. Their place in society was set
before their birth. They are a block in the hierarchical life of
ancient Egypt, with the Pharaoh at the very top.
And finally in fifth grade we
land in ancient Greece. Here
something totally new is born.
That power, that skill that lives
in each of us is recognized and
valued equally. Society now
gathers in the agora to talk,
discuss and debate. As their
temples are supported by
many columns that stand
From ancient Persia we move west again to ancient Mesopotamia. Here we encounter the world’s oldest written book, GilgaStudent’s Main Lesson Book Page
Ancient Civilizations in the 5th Grade
shoulder to shoulder, so their citizens stand together in support of their city. Democracy flourishes. The citizens aspire
to the pinnacle of their own talent. They begin to truly think,
and think for themselves. So the fifth graders have a dawning of this historical development within themselves. They
can truly stand on their own two feet and contribute to the
whole of society. Science, the rational method of observation, data collection, analysis and, through thought, the synthesis into axioms, rules and laws, then separates the ancient Greek from all earlier ancient civilizations. The Golden
Age of Greece, with figures such as Pericles, Phidias and
Plato, was a turning point for humanity as it is a turning point
for the development of the fifth grader.
Summerfield to participate in the Pentathlon, which includes long jump,
Greek wrestling, running, discus and
javelin. We begin preparing for the
event in September and each day
spend time in Olympic training.
Smiles erupt as students sprint
across the playground. Determined
focus is painted on each face as they
prepare to make their long jump into
the sand pit, practicing their form
again and again, becoming a true
Olympian.
A Multisensory Approach to Ancient History by Ilie Watterson
The songs of history bring feeling into the classroom. The
Greeks were lively, yet reverent of their gods. This becomes
clear as the students learn a variety of songs both vocally and
on recorder. Epic poems were told and sung as the famous
Greek poets sung their history to the court. Homer offers us a
grand example of a man who made his living as a court singer
and storyteller. When the songs are learned they travel straight
to the students heart and they are able to reflect a deeper understanding of the time and age that is being studied.
When teaching history we step into the cultures and immerse ourselves in the stories and activities that have
passed through oral tradition to written mythology. The
myths are told and retold, the characters are drawn in their
glory, the poetry is recited, songs are sung and played on
recorders, and the first Olympic games are experienced
through movement and performed at a Pentathlon each
May. The teaching of history requires both the students and
teacher to be alive and well with little time to be passive.
Traveling to Greece students become the gods and goddesses as they
retell a myth during a class play.
During the class
play the children
step into the
shoes of the
Greek gods and
goddesses calling
them to rise up and become an example of someone great.
Public speaking is practiced and finally presented to the
whole school community. This year the fifth grade told the
tale of Persephone and Demeter, which reveals how the
seasons came to the Greeks while also weaving the study of
Botany into the history curriculum.
The Pentathlon is the culmination of our study of ancient
civilizations, specifically Greece during its golden age. The
students are immersed in ancient Greek culture during this
event with its emphasis on grace and beauty and the ideal
form. Fifth grade classes from the North Bay converge at
From the ancient civilizations many great mathematicians arose
who learned through
observation and experimentation. The Egyptians stretched rope to
precisely measure a right
angle therefore they
were able to divide their
plots of land in neat and
tidy lines. The students
are challenged to solve some of these problems as the ancient
peoples were. Given a length of rope they are to discover for
themselves how a right triangle can be found. Before too long
the first squeals of excitement can be heard from the classroom
as the first group ties the rope in knots and then folds it with
lengths of three, four and five to form a perfect right angle. The
Pythagorean theorem is now at our fingers tips and drawing a
sequence of squares reveals more discoveries.
Throughout the study of history, students become the ancient
peoples. They are required to transform themselves into the
various characters through the plays, sing as they were standing before the royal court, move and train as an Olympian, and
rediscover mathematical discoveries for themselves. It is an
incredible journey that is hard to forget.